Spreading The Hope Disease, One Obamaniac At A Time

Good morning! The end of the Veepstakes creeps ever closer, the Olympics are gearing up to take over the public's attention and the conventions are just a month away. So today we take yet another look at where that's headed, as well as why we haven't seen any photos of the John Edwards scandal or John McCain's moles. Plus! Barack Obama tries to get women to take another look at him, Hillary Clinton's supporters hold out hope that he'll take another look at her and MTV viewers will get a look at a new disease Obamaniacs are spreading. It's all after the jump!

Democratic Veepstakes Obama's list of potential vice presidents keeps getting shorter and shorter. We can track this because those who know they're off the list like to "withdraw" from the race in order to to keep from appearing like utter losers. For one politician, former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley, it was a bit to late to stop the loser label, but he did it anyway. He joins the ranks of Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, Virginia Senator Jim Webb and Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed but not Hillary Clinton or Governor Tim Kaine, who has confirmed that he is being closely vetted as I type.

Pictures of Edwards? Normally, I enjoy seeing pictures of John Edwards and his pretty, pretty hair. But the ones everyone suspects the National Enquirer has of him hiding in the bathroom after meeting with his reported mistress might be an exception to that rule.

Obama And Women After the primaries, a lot of (mostly female) Clinton supporters suggested that Obama was going to have to work for their votes. It appears now that that's exactly what he's doing, as he and Michelle are making time to stump for the votes of women in their own party while still trying to win the hearts, minds and votes of the independents. Included in those efforts are "3,500 house parties, over 200,000 phone calls, 250,000 post cards to undecided women, nearly 300 groups on the campaign web site." That's a lot!

Hillary Not Being Vetted (No, Really This Time) There have been a number of conflicting reports about whether Hillary Clinton is being seriously considered as a VP candidate (check the article I linked to in the previous item). But the New York Times swears it isn't so. Although she'd obviously need less vetting than probably anyone else under consideration, everything from Obama's public statements about looking for someone outside of Washington to the discussions about her speaking at the convention on Tuesday night (instead of Wednesday when the VP accepts his nod) would seem to indicate that she's not The One.

The Hope Disease With MTV accepting political ads for the first time, MoveOn.org has bought a little airtime to bring us all the following commercial, warning us all of the audacity, and contagion, of Hope.

Do you think it's a cute commercial? Are you worried about McCain's age? And does the end of the line for Hillary's VP hopes make you sad again?